January 21, 2012 (Antholz-Anterselva, ITA) – Andi Birnbacher from Germany pumped his fist in celebration as he narrowly out-sprinted Russia’s Anton Shipulin by a tenth of a second to claim the victory in the men’s 15km Mass Start event in Antholz on Saturday in 38:45.7. Completing the podium was Martin Fourcade of France only 0.3 seconds behind race winner Birnbacher.

The lone North Americans to make the 30-strong field were the USA’s Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey finishing in 20th and 21st respectively. Burke and Bailey both shot well in prone but lost ground in the standing sessions with five and three penalties  each respectively.

The tracks were slowed slightly due to a moderate snowfall which kept the lead group of clean shooters close together for the first half of the race. The standing round of shooting dwindled the leaders down leaving Birnbacher, Fourcade and Fredrik Lindstrom (SWE) virtually tied heading out for the final ski leg. Shipulin and Michal Slesinger (CZE) joined them but Slesinger couldn’t hold the pace.

As the finish line approached Birnbacher  surged in the last 10m to claim the win over Shipulin by the slimmest of margins with Fourcade grabbing 3rd.

Up next in Antholz is the men’s Relay and women’s Mass Start.

Full results HERE.